More on the Dateline NBC murder trial story

"It's a classic Dateline NBC story."  That's how Dateline NBC correspondent Josh Mankiewicz describes the Alex Fazzino murder trial, which will be profiled by the program at 9:00 Friday night on KWWL-TV, Channel 7.

Mankiewicz tells decorahnews.com the case featured a suspenseful trial, two families that had been close but were split apart by events and the question of whether Emily Fazzino had been murdered or died accidentally.

Friday night's program will feature footage from the trial, which was moved from Boone to Decorah because of pretrial publicity.  Mankiewicz tells decorahnews.com a central part of the trial coverage will be the testimony of Associate State Medical Examiner Dr. Michele Catellier, who said the cause of Emily Fazzino's death was "undetermined."  Dr. Catellier had earlier testified that she was "leaning" toward declaring the death a homicide, but "I didn't feel comfortable in making that final commitment."  Answering a question from defense attorney William Kutmus, she concluded, "I don't know what happened to Emily."  Mankiewicz says that testimony was "crucial" to the decision the jury reached.
 
In addition to trial footage, Friday night's program will include interviews Mankiewicz did in Boone and Kansas City with Alex Fazzino and members of the Fazzino and Beckwith families.
 
VIDEO PREVIEW:  http://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/video/preview-the-quiet-one-673929283982  (A wife and mother of three is found dead in her bathtub. Is it an accident, or something else?  Dark secrets are revealed as the investigation unfolds. Josh Mankiewicz reports)